Need help with numbers

jbhistory

Good afternoon;

I am a 40 year old male, 6'3" and currently weighing 267 lbs (down from 300 from April). I have recently started to really dial in my diet. Below are my current numbers and macros; and the questions I have for opinions.

Calorie per day- 2000
Macro count
Carb- 35%
Protein- 35%
Fat- 30%

Yesterday I measured 29.5% body fat with a BMI of 33.3.

When I perform entries into most LBM calculators, they state that my BMR is 2068 and to lose 2 lbs a week I should be eating 2895 calories. This seems rediculously high. I honestly find it hard to hit 2000 calories most days, I am not feeling hungry, I don't have any fatigue, and I am gaining muscle mass. I know that the calculators are just "guideline", what is everyone's opinion on eating for the 2000 diet? And I damaging myself? I have a relatively sedentary job, but am at the gym 5 days a week rotating cardio and strength training. Any input would be greatly valued!

laurabadams

jbhistory wrote: »

Good afternoon;

I am a 40 year old male, 6'3" and currently weighing 267 lbs (down from 300 from April). I have recently started to really dial in my diet. Below are my current numbers and macros; and the questions I have for opinions.

Calorie per day- 2000
Macro count
Carb- 35%
Protein- 35%
Fat- 30%

Yesterday I measured 29.5% body fat with a BMI of 33.3.

When I perform entries into most LBM calculators, they state that my BMR is 2068 and to lose 2 lbs a week I should be eating 2895 calories. This seems rediculously high. I honestly find it hard to hit 2000 calories most days, I am not feeling hungry, I don't have any fatigue, and I am gaining muscle mass. I know that the calculators are just "guideline", what is everyone's opinion on eating for the 2000 diet? And I damaging myself? I have a relatively sedentary job, but am at the gym 5 days a week rotating cardio and strength training. Any input would be greatly valued!

When I plug in your stats I get maintenance calories of 2641. Cutting 500 calories a day for a 1#/week loss rate puts you at 2141, so I imagine 2000 calories a day is fine for you, if you're still feeling comfortable with that.

https://tdeecalculator.net/result.php?s=imperial&g=male&age=40&lbs=267&in=75&act=1.2&bf=30&f=2

Spliner1969

iifym.com has been more accurate for me at 6'2" tall. Other calcs out there tell me I should be eating 3k+ calories a day. Yet I can maintain with my level of exercise at 2600ish. IIFYM always calculates out around 2600-2700 when I enter all of my exercise. Give it a try, iifym.com.

DX2JX2

My stats were similar to yours when I started though not quite as heavy. I'm 6'2" and started at ~240 pounds. Beware of some of the internet calculators out there as some are pretty generous. I hunted around and started with the lowest numbers I could find. MFP is quite conservative (provides the lowest calorie totals) and is a good starting point. I actually found MFP's numbers a bit too low for me and ended up using the body weight planner put out by the USDA (you can google if interested).

Per the USDA site, my maintenance was about 2700 before considering exercise, so I've been targeting 1700 calories a day to lose 2 pounds per week. For reference, MFP gave me a target of 1500 to lose 1.8 pounds per week.

My loss on 1700 calories per day has been a very steady 2 pounds per week. Since every 10 pounds or so seems to equate to 100 calories per day in targets, 2000 calories per day sounds quite reasonable for you.

Note that the above numbers ignore exercise (that is, they're based on sedentary numbers). If you do work out, then adjust the totals as needed.

jelleigh

Im by no means an expert on this, but someone will soon mention that you are likely not gaining muscle mass if you are eating at a deficit. They say you have to eat at least at maintenance or a surplus to gain muscle mass.

sijomial

Why not use you own numbers rather than go to an online calculator? That way any logging inaccuracy is catered for.
There's a possibility that "finding it hard to eat 2000 cals most days" is because you are actually eating more than that....

Add up total calories eaten for last four weeks, add 3500 for each pound lost, divide by 28. That's your effective TDEE corrected for any logging drift from which you can take off an appropriate and sustainable deficit.